The Hunted
by Gongsun Du
Summary: Trapped on an abandoned Fire Nation station with only a handful of survivors, Sokka and Toph have to stay on the run while fighting countless undead. But something even more terrible lurks in the depths of the station. Something that Sokka must face if any of them are to survive. (Hints of SokkaXToph later on)


**Author's Note: ****Well here's my first real attempt at a horror story. I've had the idea for this story rattling around in my head for a long time so I decided to finally put it down in writing. I'm not entirely sure how this will turn out as this is an entirely new genre for me. Be warned there will be a few OC's in order to keep this story moving, but I swear they shall all be relevant.  
**

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**Character List:**

Sokka; non-bender, master swordsman. Height: 5'8''

Toph Bei Fong; blind earthbending master. Height: 5'4''

Daris; firebender, captain of the _Reliance_. Height: 5'10''

Ambassador Chiang; non-bender, Fire Nation dignitary. Height: 5'8''

Hakumi; waterbender, healer, Water Tribe representative. Height: 5'5''

Rui; firebender, aid to the Ambassador, Fire Nation intelligence agent. Height: 5'10''

Furon; firebender, soldier. Height: 6'

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**Chapter 1: The Nightmare Begins**

"_I will always be with you."_ Yue's voice echoed in Sokka's ears. The beautiful moon spirit hovered before him, her white flowing gowns spilling all along the ground. Her face was sad. Her eyes devastated. Sokka wanted so badly to comfort her, but as he held out his hand he realized that she was just out of reach.

"Yue…" he whispered, tears streaming down his face. "I'm sorry."

"Sokka…" Yue's spirit floated closer to him, her face mere inches away. As she came closer, Sokka felt his skin begin to crawl. A strange sensation began to gnaw inside of him–at his very soul. The closer she came the worse it grew. What was this feeling?

All of a sudden the sadness disappeared off Yue's face. Her kind timid features became twisted with rage. Her eyes bored furiously into his and Sokka felt his stomach cringe in horror.

"**You.**" Her voice boomed through the air. "You failed to protect me!"

"No." He shook his head. "Yue I tried. Believe me I–"

"**You failed!" **she screeched. "You killed me Sokka."

"No. No." Sokka began to back away. "I tried to save you, Yue. I would have given my life for you! I loved you." He felt his back press against a wall. There was no escape.

"You failed to protect me, Sokka." She seethed, advancing on his cowering form. "You _failed_ to save me."

"N-no." He covered his head and closed his eyes, desperate to escape. "I tried to save you. I wanted to save you."

"You failed Sokka! You did this to me!" He felt her hands on him now. Her voice so close that he could feel her bone-chilling breath on the nape of his neck. He tried to back away, to break free from her grasp, but it was all in vain. No matter what he did he could never run away from what he'd done–what he'd failed to do.

"Look at me Sokka!" her voice demanded.

He shook his head, not wanting to see.

"Look at me! Look at what you've done!" Against his own will he felt his arms drop to his sides and his eyelids begin to flutter open. The goosebumps that now covered his body were shivering in fear. He could feel the ice drifting down his spine and his heart felt like it was about to burst in his chest. When he opened his eyes at last, he could scarcely contain the scream.

Yue's face was shriveled and decaying. Her sunken yellow eyes watched him furiously as her sallow grayish mouth hung open like a corpse's. The white flowing gowns were now tattered and dirty and seemed to match the horrific state of decay with an uncanny perfection. Even the air around her seemed to smell of death, and through his trembling skin he could almost feel death's chilling embrace.

Sokka clamped his hand over his mouth, desperately pressing his back against the wall. Every fiber of his being wanted to scream out at once. His conscience feebly tried to reassure him that it was not his fault. That she could not blame him for this. But deep down Sokka knew it _was_ his fault. He knew, and that made it even worse.

Seeing her hands begin to reach for him once more, Sokka opened his mouth, seemingly to beg for mercy. But no sound came out. His throat clammed up to the point where he could scarcely breathe. All he could do was watch the skeletal aberration as its face pressed closer to his.

"You…failed…me." She was so close now that he could make out the individual holes in her skin. He could see the bits of bone protruding through the openings. Sokka's eyes screamed out in place of his voice. With every ounce of his strength he tried to look away, but felt himself paralyzed.

"You killed me Sokka, **and now I'll make you pay!**"

Sokka shot up in his bed, the dream still hanging over him. The screams that he had been unable to voice until now tore furiously at his throat and seemed to rattle his very lungs. His heart pounded in his head like a heavy war drum. Each beat seemed to echo off the metallic walls of his cabin. For a moment, he saw Yue's corpse lingering before him, but before he had a chance to blink it was gone. Slowly, reality began to sink in and the horrors of his nightmare began to fade back into the deep recesses of his mind.

It was only a dream, Sokka breathed a sigh of relief. Settling back into his bed he felt his heart rate begin to steady. With his hand he wiped a layer of sweat that had formed on his brow and exhaled deeply. This time it had been almost too real. He had been having dreams like this ever since Yue died. They had been quiet at first but over time they had grown more and more violent. A few months ago it had even gotten to the point where he was afraid to fall asleep at night. It was that more than anything that led Suki to break up with him.

Not that I could blame her, Sokka thought with a sigh. It had been selfish of him to start a relationship with her when he still couldn't let go of the past. The truth was that Yue was still very much in his heart. And no matter how much it pained him, no matter how much it tortured his psyche, he just couldn't accept that she was gone. Maybe that was why…

A knock on his door snapped Sokka out of his musings. Who could that be at this hour, he wondered. The knock grew more urgent.

"Sokka, sir, the Captain wishes to see you." A voice on the other end said anxiously.

"What is it?" Sokka asked, straining his eyes in the darkness to find his clothes.

"There's been an accident, sir. Please hurry, the Captain said to summon you immediately."

Accident? Sokka scratched his head, what the hell kind of accident would require the Captain to summon him? Wearily, he grabbed his pants off the floor and slid them on. He gathered his shirt and slipped his arms through the sleeves and hastily pushed his feet into his boots. As he reached for his sword and boomerang holster he became aware of the unusual silence in the room. That was when he realized that the ship's engines weren't running.

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**A/N: So please let me know what you think. Reviews are greatly appreciated as they let me know whether to continue this story or not. Thanks for reading!**


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